People Are More Afraid To

I Have Been A Depressed Person Most Of M Life. I Was Always In The Throes Of Self-hatred.

I Am So Grateful To Be Alive. It's Ridiculous To Be Alive.

But My Body Was Telling Its Story. I Have Read A Lot Of Stuff About Cancer. I Needed This Book. I Wish I'd Had This Book When I Had Cancer. I Wanted Someone To Be Talking To Me About "fart Floors." I Wanted Somebody Telling Me What It Was Like To Have A Colostomy Bag. I Felt So Alone. And If You're A Person Who's Been Traumatized By Past Abuse, It's So Potentially Re-traumatizing. You Slip Right Into "oh My God, This Is The Only Person This Has Happened To Before" Mentality: "i'm Especially Bad And I Have Especially Bad Cancer..."

What Happened With Cancer Was That I Just Became A Body. There Was Nothing Else But Body For A Month. I Was Chemo'd And Operated On And Cut And Poked. At First It Was Really Horrifying And Scary, And Then It Was Just,wow. You're In Your Body. This Is Body!

We Can't Walk Where We Want To Walk Or Be Who We Want To Be Or Dress The Way We Want To Dress Or Go Anywhere Any Time Of Day. I Am Talking About The Freedom That Comes With Just Knowing That You're Okay, And That You Have Value And You Have Identity, And You Don't Have To Keep Proving Yourself.